The world is incensed and the anger is directed at Google for the 400,000 trees cut down in Finland for their two data centers.
These two areas are totally devoid of any vegetation and even topsoil and brown water runs in the streams.
Wolves are coming to the nearby villages and homes and people are worried. They are also weary of the transmitted noise because the data centers will be built on hard rock.
All blame is pointed at Google as the trees had been cut down illegally and was done before obtaining full approval.
Legality has been cited as the main issue here but what of the nearby population and politicians involved in the data centers.
To clear hundreds of acres of forests and move 400,000 trees out will involve hundreds of trucks and thousands of journeys through roads which must pass through or near the villages or towns.
And most of the labor needed must surely have been from nearby. Even if labor was imported from outside, there would have been a small boom in businesses involving accommodation and food for the duration of the clearing which must have taken many weeks. And the locals would have noticed the many new faces and their curiosity piqued and inquiries made.
To only notice now when the land is laid bare and complaining wolves are at their doors begets incredulity and is laughable. The noise and dirt from hundreds of trucks and thousands of journeys carrying logs from 400,000 trees cannot be possibly not noticed by the nearby villages or towns and the authorities.
I am sure Finland has many laws and regulations regarding tree felling and land clearing and authorities would have conducted regular inspections to ensure strict adherence. And the amazing thing is that since the trees were felled illegally, they could not be sold to wood processing plants, so where did they end up.
400,000 trees are very difficult to dispose off without anyone knowing and a vast and deep pit would be needed if it was to be buried and disappear from the face of the earth.
Google was investing 13bn Euro for AI infrastructure in Finland. This is a massive amount of money to grab quickly before it goes somewhere else where there are less restrictions and compliance.
And then of course jobs for the locals and a boost for the economies of the nearby places during the clearing and later during construction.
All this points to complicity and greed. It is too huge physically and financially for some not to close an eye and benefit from it.
To cry wolve now is to admit complicity and greed has brought them to their doorstep.
Malaysia have now tightened the rules on water and power for data centers. They must also enact more comprehensive regulations regarding the site and the surrounding to prevent similar incident as in Kota Kemuning proposed data center.
Malaysians do not want, in our case, wild boars at our doorsteps.
Koo Wee Hon (kooweehon@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.